One of my clients, Christina, told me that she’s signed up for a series of marriage counselling sessions with her partner. The two of them aren’t actually married, so I thought it was bit strange at first, but the more she talked about it the more it made sense. You see, he wants to get married, while she’d prefer for things to stay as they’ve been for the past fifteen years – she has an ‘if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’ attitude to the whole thing.
Anyway, they’re both keen to stay together and want someone to help them navigate this issue in a way that won’t throw their respective mental health situations into disarray. So they’ve found a psychologist on the Mornington Peninsula who’s willing to assist them in working through any new emotional experiences or attitudinal changes that they may need to deal with.
It’s funny, the things that people are willing to confide in their hairdresser. I’ve always joked that we’re like psychiatrists, but I know that that’s not really the case. I mean, I don’t have any idea what to do with a lot of the information that people share with me – I’m not qualified to help them, or trained in creating healthy boundaries between me and my clients like. Plus, I understand that psychiatrists (as opposed to psychologists) are actually medical doctors.
From what Christina was saying, it seems that here in Mornington, psychiatry and psychology are both accessible through clinics that people can refer themselves to for treatment. I’m not sure if treatment is the right word in this case – ‘support’ may be a better term. I think it’s cool that Christina and her partner are able to acknowledge that mental health strains may occur in the course of negotiating what to do about the issue they’re exploring.
Stay tuned for the inevitable updates after Christina’s haircut next month. I’m just glad she’s not looking to me for help with this one!